aeipathy
by Nnatsukashii
Summary: Lavi stands on the pier, hand in hand with a girl he will never be given the chance to marry despite his tucked away love lasting years in the past and even more so into the future. 1920s LaviLena and implied Yullen. Complete oneshot.


"You are the most delightful of wallflowers," Lavi charms. His pretty Chinese girl coos and hides her feigned coy smile beneath her bob and hat.

"Come on, doll, come with me, I'll keep you safe. Promise."

"Oh, no I really shouldn't, straying from my seat would be a terrible idea." She bites back a trembling laugh, and keeps her voice steady, wondering idly if Link can hear or see her pursuer.

"Not while I'm here, it won't be. I'll keep you safe, I'll be your eyes. Your chaperone."

"Oh? Who says I need anyone of those fire extinguishers?"

Lavi flounders and again Lenalee's smile unfolds. She makes to stand and offers a gloved hand to her recomposing redheaded boy he takes with his own kind of backstreet gentlemanly care, and she stands tall and glittering beside him in her beaded dress. They jounce and natter away from the dancing girls and decorated tables, up and through hidden stairs, a quick pop into the bar to snatch away a Japanese boy and his white haired companion (the two in the middle of an ill bet and brawl) before slipping into the cool nightly breeze.

Speakeasy buzz and babble of their companions behind them, Lavi and Lenalee walk arm in arm as T-Fords trundle by. Lavi hums a jaunty tune and presses her closer so that she may feel the reverberating lull through her darker world, and she smiles something small and knowing.

"You've come to steal me from parties and classes since we were children, Lavi." She comes closer to push away the street noise and slight ocean chill. "What sort of trouble are you trying to get me into?"

"Oh, just the same old brand of a boy's dreams are made of," he replies with small, detained hope beneath his held breath and sigh.

"You're terrible at being romantic."

"Completely cheap. Helpless."

Two familiar voices, one lively and the other only quite disinterested, come from behind them both, and Lenalee greets the bloom of a smile that crosses Allen's face, Kanda only offering her a stiff squeeze.

Lavi's boyish embarrassment silently fades away, he clears his throat among their greeting chatter and sends an idle Kanda a raised brow and widened eye in a warning, meaningful look his Japanese friend stands firmly through.

"What do you two know about being romantic, huh?" he raises into their small crowd, though it goes unnoticed against Lenalee and Allen's babble and Kanda's stale stare. He sighs and tries again, "How about the beach tonight, guys?"

Lenalee voices her thrill of excitement and Allen enthusiastically elbows Kanda in agreement.

The two once more arm in arm and their well-dressed boys so flighty, they make their way through filling New York sidewalks to the high tided beach. Lavi pulls away from his pretty chattering Chinese girl and spins to face her as she wobbles, but he only smiles and cradles her fingertips hovered above his cool palms. Her smiles return once reassurance fills her chest, and she walks with easy confidence Lavi is thrilled to see, must never let fall, falter or fade and so he swivels again on his heels and wraps her in his own hidden delight. He jostles her in a mocked jive, laughter rattled out of her lungs and swelling into their shared air and blithely held amusement.

Kanda and Allen catch sight of the ocean first and make to speed ahead in boyish hollers and threats, leaving Lavi and Lenalee to linger with laughter and rooting of their own in the brackish breeze. They walk down the steps their friends have already run through just before them that lead to the shore below, Lavi careful of Lenalee's pace until they reach just the edge of the shore.

Late, ambling crowds gathered further down the beach hoot and holler as Kanda and Allen strip to their shorts and hassle each other along into the water, childish shouts and strings of curses reaching their companions from where they stand watching.

"Kanda has his hair in a real high bun," Lavi dictates. "Allen is too busy shivering to notice him dive behind his back – he's pulled him below the water!"

"S-so I can hear," Lenalee gasps through her laughter, a hand at her mouth.

The two watch and cheer, loudly play a game with the tide until they are out of breath for a short while longer before moving up the beach, toward a jetty abused by the nighttime waves. Lavi picks from the sand small shells and tucks them into Lenalee's palm to smooth over, peeling carefully from a revealed rock of the wharf a starfish he surprises and delights her with. The two climb hand in hand up the pier and reach the end where the waves crash and spray wildly. They fall just short of its splash.

"Are you having fun?" Lavi asks. He's perched his elbows and braced his back against the railing, Lenalee faced the opposite way, looking out into the water she cannot see.

"Yes. Yes Lavi, I am." One of her hands finds his shoulder and she leans over to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"It's nothing, I just like seeing you. Happy, especially."

Lenalee smiles against the mist and they stand in small silence.

Behind him, as he slyly looks into his companion's pretty, slender face with false hopes, Kanda and Allen beach themselves, two skinny boys spread out on the sand, hands lingering beside the other's. Without knowing of his friends' own pressed-together palms, he reaches for Lenalee's as well, takes it, thrilled heart beating in his chest, he takes it. She complies quietly, delightedly, and rests against him on tired feet.

Lavi stands on the pier, hand in hand with a girl he will never be given the chance to marry despite his tucked away love lasting years in the past and even more so into the future. This is Lenalee Lee, the orphaned daughter of wealthy Chinese merchants and sister to a thriving scientist, himself only a street-breed boy, a mutt with a missing eye and penchant for books he cannot afford.

And yet, as he knows this, keeps this tucked beneath his heart so that it may not beat its fullest, and cushioning every act, every word, every risky gaze into her face and blind eyes, he cups her small face and touches her lips to his. She complies as if waiting, pressing gently and her own hands soon cupping his face until they are out of breath like children.

"I love you," he tumbles from his breathless mouth, knowing his cheap, cliché words may not be enough for a growing girl, a read, ready girl.

"I know," she says, her voice suddenly new to Lavi's ears and clear.

"No – I've loved you since I was eight. The first day I saw you, I did, I knew it."

"I know, Lavi." Her warm, slender fingers splay across his cheek, palm cupping his face, thumb on his lips and eyes looking blindly into the air where his voice comes close.

He watches her expression with a tangle in his chest as she makes to hold his cheeks in her hands. They travel in soft curves, brush his brows, push into his right eye and hover over the patched other. Lavi lays his hands on her knuckles, her wrist, as she explores and imagines what her closest and oldest friend may look like. She flits across his cheekbones, presses against his lips with her thumbs and draws down his nose a single finger. Her hands childishly comb through his hair.

"You have orange hair and very green eyes." She smiles. "So Kanda has told me."

Lavi is nearly at a loss for words, his breath taken by disbelief and laughter, "_Kanda_ told you that? Jeeze, talk about limited _vocabulary_. I'd at least say _emerald_ green eyes, adds a little imagination."

Lenalee laughs into the coming mist of the waves, "I have no idea what orange, green, or _emerald green_ looks like. And I don't know the image my blind fingers feel, either, but Lavi, I love you."

In a love swelled thrill Lavi takes her small waist into his hands and lifts her above the pier's platform, her laughter pleasing trills against the waves, his ears, balloons his heart. He sets her down and fluidly holds her hands in his so that he may twirl her about, and she laughs into their shared air, only his raised hands keeping her standing as she trembles.

Still in his foolish rush of ardor, he dips her and presses her to him once more, startled and stopped only when hoots and hollers resonate from behind them. It's Kanda and Allen atop the steps above the shore, whistling, yelling, throwing their arms into the dark. Lavi waves wildly and they disappear, walking closely together to go find their own fun.

Without missing a beat he swirls and faces Lenalee again, smiles resonating, hearts racing.

"Marry me," he says, his mocked jive back in place.

She throws her head back in mirth, "In a heartbeat."

* * *

written for my great pal anike (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

a link to the post on her tumblr is on my profile


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